CCP Games: Pearl Abyss Exits EVE Online Developer in $120m Management Buyout
South Korea-based Pearl Abyss (KOSDAQ: 263750) has agreed to sell its Iceland-based subsidiary CCP Games, developer of the long-running space MMORPG EVE Online, to CCP’s own management team for $120m (₩177.1B) in an MBO led by CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson. The consideration comprises $100m in cash and $20m in the form of a right to acquire tokens. The transaction is expected to close on May 6, 2026, with both parties expressing openness to future collaboration following the dissolution of the equity relationship.
Pearl Abyss originally acquired CCP Games in Sep’18 for up to $425m, comprising $225m in upfront consideration and up to $200m contingent on performance-based targets, making the $120m exit a significant markdown on the original investment. Pearl Abyss stock has gained 57.49% year-to-date as of Apr 30, 2026, reaching a market cap of ~$2.45B (₩3,617.6B). This share price gain was driven primarily by the release and commercial performance of open-world action adventure Crimson Desert: the title reached 3 million units sold within its first week of Mar’26 launch, triggering a 27.76% single-day stock surge on Mar 25, 2026. Within the first month after release, Crimson Desert has crossed 5 million units — an impressive milestone for a game the commercial success of which has been in question after harsh reviews and players’ initial feedback. The stock price peaked at approximately ₩77,400 in early Apr’26, followed by a partial pullback to the current level, which is 76.1% of the 52-week high. The company cited the need to ease consolidated financial burdens and reallocate capital as a strategic rationale, with its pipeline now focused on DokeV, the open-world creature-collecting title estimated to require 2 to 3 additional years of development.
CCP Games, founded in Jun’97 and headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland, is best known for EVE Online, a persistent open-world space MMORPG released in May’03 and one of the longest-running titles in the MMO genre. The game is distributed primarily through its own dedicated launcher, where the majority of its active player base is concentrated. On Steam, where the game adopted a free-to-play model in 2016, EVE Online has attracted approximately 7 million total players and $99.2m in gross revenue, according to Alinea Analytics. During the years under Pearl Abyss ownership, the CCP team raised $40m led by a16z for a web3 AAA game set in the EVE universe. EVE Online delivered its best quarter since the pandemic in Q4’25, growing 19% year-over-year despite a declining Steam player count.
CCP has also ported the EVE brand to mobile platforms, licensing a recognized IP to reach casual and mobile-first audiences while sustaining the PC core.
EVE Echoes, developed in partnership with China-based NetEase (HK: 9999) and released in Aug’20, represents CCP’s first mobile entry. The title has accumulated 4.5 million downloads and $52.3m in lifetime IAP revenue. EVE Galaxy Conquest, a 4X strategy base-builder developed internally by CCP and released in Oct’24, offers a second mobile vector. The title has generated 965 thousand downloads and $3.5m in IAP revenue in its first full year of operation, with MAU rising from 17,000 in 2024 to 22,000 in 2025. While it remains early-stage relative to EVE Echoes, the directional growth in MAU indicates that EVE Galaxy Conquest is building an incremental audience in a different genre, reducing the franchise’s dependence on a single platform.
We will continue to monitor CCP Games’ strategic direction under independent ownership, including the trajectory of EVE Vanguard, the studio’s extraction MMOFPS currently scheduled for Steam Early Access in Summer 2026.
